The Putnam County Election Commission decided Thursday to keep the Bangham voting precinct at the Community Center.
The commission originally considered moving the Bangham precinct after parking became a big issue. Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said he reached out to a nearby church and said that the church is still considering allowing their parking lot be used for election day. Porter said the county could add additional parking at the community center and also could see if the convenience site parking behind the community center could be used for parking on election day.
“I don’t know if it will be enough or not but I think if we could look at some of this, make some of these changes and try it and see how it does,” Porter said. “Then if it doesn’t work, then you could always drop back to plan B and maybe the church and maybe not have to do it.”
The commission also approved moving the Capshaw Elementary precinct from the gymnasium to the cafeteria. Election Commission Chairman Phil Adams said the move will address several issues at the precinct including making it more handicap accessible.
“We can direct access without going through the school,” Adams said. “It moves it back to that main parking lot, you know, the parallel parking lot at the front and there is handicap directly across from that. You can walk right in so that pulls everybody back to that and people don’t have to stand down the hall.”
Porter said the fire trucks from the fire station beside the Bangham Community Center could be moved on election day so people could park in front of the fire station without the worry of blocking the station. Adams said the precinct has a lot of voters on election day and that any additional parking would be a big help.
“We have over 800 each presidential election day,” Adams said. “Of course, not all 800 are there at once, but you could have a couple hundred cars there at once and it looks like we can achieve that with the changes that Randy proposed and we appreciate him. That meant a lot to us.”
Porter said several community members did not want to move the Bangham precinct as the the precinct has been at the community center for many years and is very historical. Adams said the commission will see how the changes will affect voting over the next couple of years and will re-evaluate before the next presidential election.
